Note: This is a "Letter to
a Stranger" which we discuss in our articles about letter-writing.

In this letter, the parents described James' educational history as a part of their request for tuition at Landmark School. A a
special education due process hearing was held. At trial, this letter was an
important exhibit. This letter was also used extensively
during direct and cross-examination of all witnesses.

When you read the Final Decision, you will see that the Hearing and Review Officers read, understood, and accepted the truth of the parents' letter.

On May 30 and June 11, 1996, we met with
your staff to discuss an appropriate educational program for our son,
James. To provide Dare County Public Schools with current information
on what James needs educationally, we obtained comprehensive evaluations
from two experts in the field of special education, Rick Ellis, Ed.D.
and Rebecca Felton, Ph.D.

Dr. Ellis, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist
and Certified School Psychologist from Norfolk, Virginia evaluated
James on April 20 and July 25, 1996. Dr. Felton, a nationally known
expert in the field of learning disabilities, performed educational
evaluations of James on April 21, 1996.

IEP Meeting: May 30, 1996

On May 30, Dr. Ellis and Dr. Felton traveled
to Dare County so that they could discuss their findings and recommendations
with you and your staff. At the meeting, Dr. Ellis and Dr. Felton
advised your staff that James' language arts curriculum must include
remediation. Your staff informed us that he will not receive remediation
because the program is not set up for it. They also said that special
education in Hatteras presents a "unique challenge" because the school
system is so small.

During this meeting, school psychologist
Mitchell Bateman and Dr. Shepherd insisted that James' passing grades
proved that he was mastering grade level material adequately. Their
position completely overlooks and ignores his multiple skills' deficits
that have been repeatedly documented by educational evaluations completed
both by Dare County and by private evaluators over the years. Although
Dr. Felton advised your staff that reading and writing are essential
skills that James must master, it became clear from remarks made by
Mr. Bateman that the school has no intention of providing remediation
and that the teachers are not trained in remediation.

Dr. Shepherd asked for information about
Landmark School and after hearing the Landmark program described,
he told us that Dare County cannot duplicate the Landmark program.

Since you did not attend the May 30 IEP
meeting, another meeting was scheduled for June 11. At that meeting,
we again requested remediation for our son and were advised that this
was not possible. We asked that James be placed at Landmark School
where he can receive the remediation that he requires and that Dare
County cannot provide. We have still received no response from you
about our request that James receive his education at Landmark.

I am asking you to reply to our request
to place James into Landmark School. To put the situation into perspective,
I would like to provide you with some additional information about
our son, who has attended Dare County Public Schools for the past
six years and received special education services during most of this
time.

Kindergarten: Cape Hatteras SchoolSchool Year 1987-1988

James began school at Cape Hatteras School.
By the end of kindergarten, he had not memorized the ABC's, the days
of the week, or nursery rhymes. He got very upset when he brought
home papers with "sad faces" or F's. He was embarrassed when he had
to stand up in front of the room when it was his turn to recite a
nursery rhyme and he could not remember it. By the end of kindergarten,
he began to avoid doing things, rather than trying to and failing.
He told us "I would rather put my head on the desk and play the computer
in my head than do the work in class." My husband and I were very
worried that James was "tuning out" of school before he had even entered
first grade. We talked about it and decided that he needed a school
experience where he could have more individualized attention.

First and Second Grade: The Island
Academy:School Years 1988-1989; 1989-1990

For first grade, we enrolled our son
in The Island Academy, a small kindergarten through fifth grade private
school on Hatteras Island. Although this was a big financial strain
on our family, we wanted our son to learn to enjoy school. In first
grade, James began to like school and learning. Although he was doing
remedial work, he felt good about himself and his abilities. The school
worked with him at his level and he made steady progress.

We re-enrolled James in The Island Academy
for the second grade. By the end of second grade,

he was working on grade level in math,
science and social studies but was still below grade level in reading.
Since he was making progress, we hoped that he could now be successful
in the public school and felt that it would be good for him to go
to school with his friends. My husband and I also had to accept the
fact that we could not afford to send James to private school on a
continuing basis.

Third Grade: Cape Hatteras SchoolSchool Year 1990-1991

Before James entered Cape Hatteras School,
I scheduled a conference with his teacher to discuss his reading problems.
The teacher asked that I give her some time to do her own assessment.
In November, the teacher told us that she saw no problems because
James was a bright, enthusiastic child. We agreed that he was bright
and enthusiastic but we were worried about his ongoing problems with
reading and writing. After we shared our concerns, she obtained some
tests from a school psychologist, administered these tests herself,
and told us that James did well. We expressed our continuing concerns
to her, because he was not working on grade level in reading or writing.
She arranged for another observation.

After Christmas, another teacher observed
James. At that point, Dare County Schools agreed to test James to
determine if he had a learning disability. On February 13, 1991, James
had his first psychological evaluation. School psychologist Mitchell
Bateman found that Jamesí Full Scale IQ was 127 but that he was reading
and writing at a second grade level. In his report, Mr. Bateman stated:

"Intellectually, James presents
as an individual with superior to very superior cognitive functioning
abilities . . . Overall mental development appears to be in a superior
range . . . A negative discrepancy of 32 points is noted in the reading
area and a negative discrepancy of 24 points was noted in written
language."

The discrepancies showed that James did
have a learning disability.

We were very relieved to learn that there
was a reason for Jamesí inability to read and write like his friends.
On March 6, 1991, Dare County developed an IEP for James. This IEP
indicated that within one year, Jamesí reading level would increase
from a 2.2 to a 3.1 grade level. The IEP described James as creative,
curious, cooperative, accepting of suggestions, and a frequent contributor
to class. It also indicated that he had frequent reversals of letters
and numbers and appeared depressed when he was unable to do his work.
Based on this IEP, James was placed in a "pull out" Exceptional Children's
program for two periods a day. Those periods were to coincide with
the reading and language arts periods in his regular classroom.

We were optimistic about what was going
to be done to help James. We did not realize the negative impact that
this placement was going to have on our eight year old son -- being
placed in a "special" class with children who had serious emotional
problems and severe mental retardation, children who ranged from first
grade through eighth grade.After he started the "pull out" sessions,
James told us that he was worried about having to leave his regular
classes and miss what was going on. We insisted that he continue with
the "pull out" class because we understood that this was where he
was going to learn how to read and write. We felt that his objections
would lessen after he had some time to adjust.

By the end of third grade, James' oral
reading was still at least one grade level below average and he was
still having severe difficulties with written language. Yet, we ended
third grade still feeling positive about what was going to be done
to help our son.

James had perfect attendance in third
grade.

Fourth Grade: Cape Hatteras SchoolSchool Year: 1991-1992

In fourth grade, James' classmates began
to react when he left the classroom. Some of his friends told him
he must be retarded since he was going to a class with "retards."
Even though we tried to reassure him that he was very bright, he continued
to be upset about being pulled out. In addition to being upset at
Jamesí distress, my husband and I began to wonder how one teacher
could effectively respond to the educational needs of so many different
students of so many different ages and so many different exceptionalities.

On April 24, 1992, Dare County tested
the children using the California Achievement Tests. According to
these standardized test scores, James was functioning below average
in most areas including reading vocabulary (30th percentile), reading
comprehension (40th percentile), language mechanics (34th percentile),
language expression (31st percentile), word analysis (17th percentile),
and spelling (10th percentile), despite his superior cognitive functioning
abilities.

On June 4, 1992, an IEP was developed
for James' fifth grade year. This IEP included two goals: to increase
James' reading comprehension to a 6.0 level and to increase his written
language score to the 70th percentile. The IEP also reduced his special
education services to one period a day.

James missed fourteen days of school
in fourth grade.

Fifth Grade: Cape Hatteras SchoolSchool Year: 1992-1993

In fifth grade, things became much more
difficult for James. Emotionally, he began to feel terrible about
himself and his classmates were now certain that there was really
something very wrong with James. He was struggling academically too.
Much of his classwork came home because he could not complete it at
school without assistance. He also had homework that had to be completed
for the next day. There were many nights when ten year old James spent
three to four hours working at home, with us scribing and reading
to him, trying to complete both his unfinished classwork and his homework.

James would come home from school, go
to his bedroom and cry. He said that he was dumb and he wished he
were dead. We were frightened and at a loss about what to do to help
our son. We felt that we were doing everything we could as his parents.
Although James was having a terrible time emotionally, we believed
that he was making progress with his exceptional teacher and we felt
that some progress was better than none.

At the end of fifth grade, we asked about
getting James' sixth grade textbooks on tape since he couldn't read
well enough to understand them. We were concerned that James would
be entering Middle School and felt that it would be helpful to him
and his teachers if he had tapes to listen to instead of having to
spend hours and hours struggling to read the books.

James was sick with pneumonia in fifth
grade and missed twenty days of school.

Cape Hatteras School: Sixth GradeSchool Year: 1993-1994

When James entered sixth grade, he had
a new exceptional education teacher. This teacher was a very good
support person and helped James with his classwork but she did not
provide James with remediation of his reading and written language
problems.

On February 7, 1994, James was re-evaluated
by school psychologist Mitchell Bateman as part of the triennial eligibility
process. At the time of this testing, James was midway through the
sixth grade and had received special education for three years.

According to school psychologist Mitchell
Batemanís testing, Jamesí IQ scores had dropped. His Full Scale IQ
dropped from 127 in 1991 to 114 in 1994. His Performance IQ dropped
by 25 points, from 133 to 108. . After three years of being reassured
that our son was making progress in his exceptional education program,
we were shocked by these test results.

After Mr. Batemanís testing, a new IEP
was developed for James. Despite clear evidence from Mr. Bateman's
testing that the special education program was not working for James,
the next IEP provided for exactly the same level of special education
services. The chart below includes James' scores in the areas of reading
and written language. These scores clearly demonstrate James' regression
since last tested.

W-J Subtest Score: Feb 1991/ Feb 1994Progress after 3 Years -
Please See Chart At the End of this
article

Our son's academic and emotional
problems worsened. He was now having serious problems in math -- previously
an area of strength for him. Although we asked that he receive help
in math, we were advised that the school could not provide him with
help because his test scores didn't show enough of a discrepancy. James
developed alarming problems with anxiety and depression in response
to his view of himself as a failure. He tried to avoid going to school,
where he felt horrible about himself.

Since the school wasn't teaching him
how to read, I requested books on tape for him -- repeatedly. This
was a very frustrating experience. Each time I asked about obtaining
books on tape, it was as if I was making a completely new request
and the process of trying to obtain them started anew.

During sixth grade, James missed twelve
days of school.

Comprehensive Evaluations: The Lab
SchoolAugust 1994

Mitchell Bateman's re-evaluation of James
and his findings that our son was not learning caused us to take action.
We decided to find out exactly what was wrong with James and what
needed to be done about it. A few years earlier, he was a bright,
enthusiastic child who loved to learn. Now, he was depressed, anxious,
withdrawn, and filled with self-hatred and self-doubt. We decided
to have a comprehensive evaluation completed on him by known experts
in the field of learning disabilities. I took James to Washington,
DC where he was evaluated by Dr. Kathleen van Hover of The Lab School.

Dr. van Hover found that James had significant
problems in memory or the ability to retrieve information. In some
areas, he was functioning at the level of a kindergarten child (K.0,
K.5) while in other areas he scored at the level of a college graduate
(16.9). His ability to process information quickly and efficiently
was very low -- at about the 3rd grade level (2nd percentile). But,
his Comprehension/Knowledge abilities were at the 10th grade level
(90th percentile).

Dr. van Hover's testing determined that
James' basic reading skills were still stuck at the fourth grade level
(25th percentile). On Numerical Operations, a test that measured his
ability to perform basic math calculations, he scored at the third
grade level (9th percentile), primarily because of his inability to
multiply correctly. Dr. van Hover found that James' written language
skills were extremely weak. His basic writing skills were measured
at the second to third grade levels (between the 3rd and 9th percentiles).
She noted that: "His knowledge of the basics of writing, such as letter
forms, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and word usage was measured
at the 4th percentile on the WJ-R. He could neither produce correctly
nor identify and then correct the basics of writing. "

Fortunately, we learned that James also
had strengths. His overall knowledge score on the Broad Knowledge
cluster of the Woodcock-Johnson was at the 65th percentile. His understanding
of science was at the level of a ninth grader (81st percentile).

Dr. van Hover determined that James had
dyslexia:

"James' weaknesses in two areas
not previously assessed, phonics and oral expression, point to the
probable role of language development problems in James' learning
disabilities and to the importance of language therapy and a phonics
based approach to reading and spelling mastery."

Because we were terribly concerned about
Mr. Bateman's findings when he tested our son, I asked Dr. van Hover
to re-administer the intelligence test to James. Although we hoped for
good news, when Dr. van Hover re-tested James, his IQ scores had plummeted
even further. His Verbal IQ was 99 (down from 118), his Performance
IQ was 106 (down from 108), and his Full Scale IQ was 102 (down from
114). Dr. van Hover also screened James' personality and found that
his self concept was at the 7th percentile, while his happiness and
satisfaction level was at the 1st percentile. Noting that he was depressed
and had admitted to thoughts of killing himself, she concluded that:

"It is very likely that the
changes observed in Jamesí IQ scores within the last six months are
related to the significant degree of anxiety and depression that James
is currently experiencing."

Dr. van Hover also recommended that James
have a speech and language evaluation to assess the factors that were
contributing to his phonological decoding problems and difficulties
with oral expressive language.

Believing that we now had information
that Dare County could use to develop an appropriate educational program
for James, we provided your staff with Dr. van Hover's report and
recommendations.

Seventh Grade: Cape Hatteras Middle
SchoolSchool Year 1994-1995

Things did not improve for James in seventh
grade. After I understood that learning to use a computer would help
James in his weakest area -- written language-- I asked that he be
taught keyboarding. The school agreed to do this but, in order to
teach him keyboarding, they took him out of the English class where
he was supposed to be getting individualized instruction. Not surprisingly,
James made little or no progress in his weakest areas of reading and
written language during seventh grade.

As advised by Dr. van Hover at the Lab
School, we requested a speech and language evaluation for James. It
was administered at Cape Hatteras School by Mrs. Candy Evans. These
tests resulted in no conclusions. Mrs. Evans then referred us to the
Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders and Dyslexia Clinic of
the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at East Carolina
University. We contacted them and were put on a waiting list for testing.

By seventh grade, we felt like we were
in a Catch-22 situation. In order for our son to keep up in his regular
classes, he spent time with the exceptional teacher who helped him
do assignments in these classes. This left her with little or no time
to help him actually learn how to read and write on his own. His inability
to read and write independently kept him dependent on the teacher
to help him complete school assignments.Feeling absolutely helpless,
I continued to request books on tape -- to no avail. At one IEP meeting,
we were told to contact you, Mr. Jones, since you were Director of
Exceptional Children's Programs, and ask you for textbooks on tape.
We wrote to you but did not receive any response back from you and
of course, received no textbooks on tape. In retrospect, rather than
having books read to him, I now know that James needs to learn how
to read books on his own.

Interestingly, at one point James was
made a "peer tutor," the "reader" for a younger student. Obviously,
being illiterate posed a problem. Eventually, the classroom assistant
told James "You donít belong in this class" as a peer tutor. She was
absolutely right but this was a very disheartening experience for
our son who continued to feel depressed and worthless.

James missed eighteen days of school
during seventh grade.

Frankly, at this point, we were losing
confidence in Dare County Schools' ability to help our son. We felt
that there must be someplace that could help James so we began to
look around for summer programs. During our search, we contacted our
state senator and the local mental health organization. Neither could
tell us of an appropriate program.

We also contacted you, Mr. Jones, since
you were coordinator for Exceptional Children's Programs for Dare
County. You suggested that we send James to summer school. We felt
that this would simply continue the problems of the previous school
years -- there was still no plan to teach our son to read or write.

We continued to look for programs that
focused on actually teaching children how to read and write. We heard
about a summer program at Landmark School that was specifically developed
to teach students with dyslexia. We visited the school, and after
much family discussion, we decided that James deserved the opportunity
to experience this program.

Summer Program, Landmark SchoolSummer, 1995

Although James was very apprehensive
about attending Landmark School and suffered from some homesickness
during the first week, he quickly acclimated himself to the program.
By the end of the first week, James was very excited about the progress
he was making. When we went up for Parents Weekend, his teachers told
us how hard he worked and how much he enjoyed learning.

At Landmark, James was tested when he
entered and tested when he left. During six weeks of intensive educational
remediation in his areas of weaknesses, he made more progress than
he had during three years of special education in Cape Hatteras School.
The charts on the next page contain the test scores.

Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-RJuly 6, 1995 -- August 14, 1995

Word IdentificationSubtest

Word Attack

July

August

July

August

Standard Score

91

104

88

108

Grade Equivalent

5.0

8.7

3.4

16.9

Percentile Rank

28

60

22

70

James had no problems with illness
or attendance while at Landmark. In fact, in the tutorial (report card)
from Landmark, his language arts teacher commented on this newly confident,
competent young man:

"James is always prepared and
on time, ready to work. Although tasks such as copying from the board
and entering written work into the computer are sometimes frustrating
for James, his sense of humor has become a useful tool in overcoming
his frustration . . . James responds well to the structure and demands
of the language arts class. He is able to stay on task with a minimum
of teacher redirection. James responds well to immediate feedback
and reassurance. He has experienced very positive interactions with
his classmates and has been an active participant in all classroom
activities."

When James came home from Landmark School,
the difference in his personality was like night and day. He could recite
the months in sequence, something he had never been able to do. He willingly
read to me when I asked him to.

His self esteem and confidence were at
an all-time high. Neighbors and friends remarked at the change in
James. They saw him as happier and more confident. He initiated conversations
with others and wanted to share his excitement about his experiences
at Landmark.

James desperately wanted to return to
Landmark for the coming school year and we knew that he needed the
program they provided. But the summer program alone had cost over
five thousand dollars and had depleted our resources.

James was evaluated at the Scottish Rite
Childhood Language Disorders and Dyslexia Clinic on September 26,
1995,. The Clinic is part of the Department of Communication Science
and Disorders at East Carolina University.

Again, James went through more testing.
On the Test of Written Language -2, all of his test results were below
average. His highest score was on Vocabulary (37th percentile); his
lowest scores were on Contextual Vocabulary and Syntactic Maturity
(9th percentile), Spelling (5th percentile), and Contextual Spelling
(1st percentile).

In reading, James continued to demonstrate
the problems that have followed him throughout his academic career:

"James exhibited a dysphonic
reading pattern with deficits in the auditory analytic function and
a strength in the visual gestalt function . . . he has difficulty
in the integration of symbols with sounds and so is unable to develop
phonic decoding skills without remediation."

On the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test_Revised,
James' subtest scores ranged from a high in Word Identification (SS=99;
PR=47) to a low in Word Attack (SS=85; PR=16). On the Learning Efficiency
Test - II, he had significant weaknesses in Short Term Visual Recall
(SS=4; PR=2) and Long Term Visual Recall (SS=5; PR=5) and similar problems
with Auditory Ordered Short Term Recall and Long Term Recall (SS=6;
PR=9).

On Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive Ability,
his scores on Memory for Sentences (SS=121; PR=92; GE=16.9) were more
than ten years higher than his score on Memory for Words (SS=97; PR=43;
GE=6.6). On Writing Fluency, he scored about 3 years behind his actual
grade placement (SS=87; PR=19; GE=5.1).

Eighth Grade: Cape Hatteras Middle
SchoolSchool Year 1995-1996

James returned to Cape Hatteras Middle
School for the eighth grade. The IEP developed by Dare County did
not include remediation of his weaknesses in reading and writing.
Instead, this IEP proposed to help him "demonstrate higher level thinking
skills, improve his assertion skills, and effectively organize notes
and turn in 90% of his assignments."

James was not happy in the eighth grade
and that has been reflected in his grades and his health. Academically,
he has been under a great deal of stress. We believe that some of
his unhappiness is because of his wonderful experience at Landmark
and his awareness that he can learn and that learning can be an enjoyable
and friendly experience. Last summer, he learned that he can make
friends and that there are schools where people donít make him feel
like his is "academically retarded" because he has dyslexia.

As his unhappiness deepened, he became
ill repeatedly. He is now taking Zantac for a stomach disorder caused
by stress. I'm sorry to say that many of his teachers have not been
cooperative about giving him makeup work and some have actually been
hostile and disgruntled when we went to the school to pick up his
makeup work. Finally, we requested that his exceptional teacher intervene
with these teachers and ask them to be supportive of James, instead
of humiliating and embarrassing him.

In eighth grade, James missed thirty
four days of school due to illness.

Mr. Jones, although we wish our son did
not have to leave us to continue his education, we know that he needs
to attend a school that can teach him how to read, write, and do mathematics.
As weíve watched James move through the grades, we have been saddened
by the awful plummet his self-concept has taken with each year. We
know that by attending a school that has a curriculum specifically
designed for learning disabled students, our son can learn. As he
learns, he will again feel good about himself and his abilities.

Educational Remediation and Compensatory
Education

In our discussions with the experts who
evaluated James, we've learned many things. First, we've learned that
dyslexia is a learning disability that is neurologically based. Dyslexia
affects the individual's ability to acquire language skills, especially
in reading and written language. Dyslexia isn't caused by laziness
nor is it a term for a slow learner.

We've learned about the two main ways
to approach educating learning disabled children --- remediation and
compensation.

If the child receives remediation, specially
trained teachers instruct the child in his areas of weakness. The
goal is to close the gap between the child's ability and his academic
achievement. If a dyslexic child like James receives a remedial education,
teachers work intensively with him to teach him how to read and write.

If a learning disabled or dyslexic child
receives a compensatory education, no real effort is made to improve
or increase the deficient skills. Instead, you try to make things
easier for the child. With compensation, instead of teaching the child
how to read, people read to the child or provide the child with tapes
or talking books. With compensation, a teacher or peer scribe might
write for the child who has trouble writing, so he doesn't have to
learn how to do it himself.

We have learned that the only appropriate
treatment for dyslexia is educational remediation, a type of teaching
that uses specific educational techniques to strengthen the weak areas
of the brain so that eventually, the child can learn to read and write
normally. Educational remediation is similar to using physical therapy
to strengthen a child who is born with a physical condition or disorder
that is neurologically-based.

With remediation, everyone works harder
-- the teachers and the child-- because this is what it takes for
the child to learn how to read, write and do arithmetic. With compensatory
education, expectations and standards are lowered until the child
can get by. Eventually, the child either graduates, gets a certificate
of attendance, or drops out of school but is still unable to read
or write.

During his six years in Dare County Public
Schools, James did not receive remediation. The evaluations conducted
on him through the years show that the gap between his abilities and
his achievement has grown wider through these years.

After failing to remediate him when he
was younger, Dare County now tells us that it is too late to remediate
him.

Psychological EvaluationsApril 20 and July 25, 1996

On April 20 and July 25, 1996, Dr. Rick
Ellis completed full psychological evaluations of James. On the Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scale: IV, Dr. Ellis found that:

"In terms of overall intellectual
ability, James was found to be functioning within the superior range
of intellectual development. James' Verbal Reasoning skills fall in
the upper end of the high average range. James' Abstract/Visual Reasoning
skills fall within the superior range. James' Quantitative Reasoning
skills fall within the very superior range and were found to be a
relative strength for James."

Dr. Ellis also found that in all academic
areas -- reading, math and written language -- James was functioning
significantly below the range that would be expected given his ability.
After testing James on the Test of Variables of Attention, Dr. Ellis
concluded that he has an attention deficit disorder.

Given the mixed test results on intelligence
testing over the years, we asked that Dr. Ellis reevaluate James,
using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. On the WISC-III,
Jamesí Verbal IQ was 106, his Performance IQ was 99, and his Full
Scale IQ was 103. If you look at these scores, James seems like an
average child.Dr. Ellis showed us that James' Wechsler subtest scores
ranged from highs on Picture Completion (SS = 15, PR = 95), Similarities
and Comprehension (SS = 12, PR = 75) to extremely low scores on Coding
(SS = 4; PR = 2) and Digit Span (SS = 5, PR = 5). On another subtest,
Symbol Search, James earned a Scaled Score of 17 which placed him
at the 99th percentile of all children tested. On the most recent
intelligence testing, this average appearing boy has scores that ranged
from the 99th percentile to the 2nd percentile. James is a gifted,
learning disabled child.

Diagnostic Reading Assessment by
Dr. Rebecca FeltonApril 12, 1996

As you know, James was also evaluate
by Dr. Felton. In addition to formal testing, Dr. Felton reviewed
all of the previous testing and the IEPs developed on James through
the years. She noted that:

"The IEP developed for James
for seventh grade (8-26-94 to 6-9-95) indicated 8 hours of direct
service in reading and written language . . . No specific goals or
objectives were included that relate to the deficits in basic reading
and writing skills identified by the school psychological or the LSW
evaluation."

"I conclude that James is a
student correctly identified as having specific reading and written
language disabilities or dyslexia . . . School and test records indicate
that James continued to demonstrate significant deficits particularly
in basic reading and writing skills in spite of special services for
over five years in the public schools. Analysis of the Individual
Education Plans indicates that much of this time was spent on teaching
James higher level skills without adequately preparing him in the
basic skills (word identification, decoding, and spelling)."

Dr. Felton made several recommendations
as to what James requires in order to receive an appropriate education
including the following:

"James requires direct, remedial
instruction in basic skills of reading and spelling . . . A second
major component of instruction must be to continue to develop Jamesí knowledge of letter-sound associations and spelling patterns . . .
the goal must be not only of accuracy but of automaticity in this
area. This goal can only be accomplished through direct instruction
in reading and writing . . . remedial instruction must be on a regular
basis (daily or several times weekly) with James either individually
or in a small group where the other students are working on the same
level (so the teacher can provide the direct instruction necessary)
. . . in an overall language arts curriculum designed to meet the
needs of students with specific language based learning disabilities.
The teacher must be well trained in the linguistic aspects of reading
and spelling as well as the specific methods being used."

Second IEP Meeting: June 11, 1996

On June 11, 1996, my husband and I met
with you and your staff again in an effort to develop an IEP for our
son James. As you may recall, I taped the meeting so that my recollections
of our conversations would be accurate. Since that meeting, I have
given a great deal of thought to the suggestions made by you and the
staff of Dare County Schools and would like to share them with you.

As James' parents, it has always been
our position that our son needs to learn how to read and write. For
years, we thought that the Dare County special educators shared this
goal with us. For five and a half years, James received a special
education in which he did not receive remediation of his learning
disabilities and he has not learned to read or write. At the most
recent IEP meetings, Dare County proposes another IEP in which no
effort is made to teach our son how to read or write.

During the June 11 IEP meeting, Stephanie
Hinton Gray told us that in middle school and high school, you have
to chose between compensation and remediation. Instead of teaching
James how to read and write, you propose to teach him how to be successful
in school without learning how to read and write. You even proposed
to have a teacher float into his class from time to time to help James
when he didn't understand things -- if she has time in her schedule.
During this meeting, you expressed the belief that James' high cognitive
skills had enabled him to be a successful learner without being able
to read. You also mentioned a program called Reading Academy which
actually does teach children how to read (remediation) but said you
didn't have it yet and didn't know when you would. Your comments about
the Reading Academy lead to us believe that you know James really
needs remediation but that at present, you do not have a program or
staff that can do this.

As James' parents, you are asking us
to agree to an IEP which makes no effort to help our son acquire reading
and writing skills. As Dr. Rebecca Felton told your staff: "James
must learn how to read and write." After he learns these skills, he
can learn other things. As we look toward James' future, we must ask
ourselves how can our son be successful in the real world of work
or higher education, without knowing how to read and write.

In the U. S. Supreme Court's decision
in the Shannon Carter case, the South Carolina school district proposed
an IEP in which Shannon would make a half year of progress in reading
after a year of special education. Shannon's parents withdrew Shannon
from public school and placed her into Trident Academy, saying they
wanted their daughter to be reading at the 12th grade level when she
graduated from high school. It strikes me that in Shannon's case,
the school district at least proposed to do something to improve Shannon's
reading, inadequate as it was. In James' case, you simply propose
to ignore his reading problems altogether.

As conscientious parents, we cannot agree
to this plan. We know that Landmark School can and did provide our
son with an appropriate education. We know that Dare County has not
provided our son with an appropriate education in the past. Following
these most recent IEP meetings, we now know that Dare County cannot
provide our son with an appropriate education in the future. On July
23, 1996, Dr. Felton wrote to us about Dare County's IEP:

"After reviewing the currently
proposed IEP, it remains clear that the Cape Hatteras School is not
prepared, nor do they consider it necessary, to make any attempt to
directly remediate James' reading and written language deficits. While
the goals of the IEP are appropriate, they simply do not represent
an adequate program for him."

Dr. Jones, we want to thank you for your
time and patience in reading this long letter. I know that in your position,
you are responsible for the education of many children. As parents,
we are responsible for seeing that our son gets an appropriate education.
It is our hope that by providing you with adequate information about
James, you will be able to make an informed decision about our request
that he attend Landmark School.

If you are willing to grant our request,
please let us know immediately so we can begin to make arrangements
with Landmark School.

If you are unwilling to place James at
Landmark, please consider this letter our first step in the process
of requesting a special education Due Process Hearing. We will be
represented by Peter W. D. Wright, Esq. You have his address and telephone
number. You or your counsel are authorized to communicate with him.
Please send him a complete copy of James' file.

Hopefully this can be resolved quickly
without the intervention of attorneys. We would like James to enroll
immediately into Landmark. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank
you.

Note to the Reader:
This letter was sent to the school district. The case was not settled. Instead, a lengthy special education due process hearing was held. The parents prevailed at the due process hearing. Dare County appealed. The Review Officer upheld the administrative law judge's decison. You can read that decision at: